Daylight Savings Time maketh Unkind
🎉 Psych - 200/200
Hello Reader,
This is the 200th study being covered in Psych. Congrats! 🥳
So this new study says, we are less kind to others after a terrible night's sleep. Let’s learn more and find out what it says!
What is it?
In this study, conducted by the University of California, Berkeley’s Center for Human Sleep Science, lead researcher Eti Ben Simon and her colleagues looked at the weeks before and after Daylight Savings Time (when the clocks are pushed forward an hour in the spring and everyone loses an hour of sleep) and analyzed millions of charitable donations made within the United States between 2001 and 2016.
They found that donations dipped significantly in the week just after Daylight Savings Time—a dip not seen in states that don’t change their clocks in the spring.
[Research]
One of our kind reader is conducting market research (anonymous survey), to prove the point that more support is needed for autistic adults and families/caregivers.
It would mean a lot to her if you can share your thoughts in her survey.
Link - Autism Support (google.com)
What do I need to know?
“This is actually the first study to show that there is an impact on people’s generosity and prosocial behavior following Daylight Savings Time,” says Ben Simon. “It’s just more evidence of the importance of sleep on people’s behavior.”
The same pattern seems to play out on the individual level, thanks to how sleep affects the brain.
In another experiment, participants were deprived of sleep one entire night, then tested the next morning on their willingness to help others. First, they read different scenarios of people in need—close friends, relatives, or strangers—and reported on how much they might be willing to help in that situation.
References & Studies: -
https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/an_unexpected_side_effect_of_daylight_savings_time_less_generosity